Before the invention of the printing press, most literature was experienced through an oral tradition, where stories and tales were passed down from generation to generation by telling the story. Then, the printing press came along and suddenly the printed word was widely available, and changed the way people consumed literature.

Nowadays, it’s computers and other digital technology that’s changing the face of literature. In a recent article published by ScienceDaily (that’s right, a science journal published an article about poetry), gives a short chronicle of Maria Engberg who wrote her dissertation on the effects of technology on poetry:

She has analyzed works by English-speaking poets such as John Cayley, Stephanie Strickland, and Thomas Swiss. The focus is on space, time, movement, and word and image constructions. The poems were written, or rather created, with the help of computer technology and published on the Internet or CDs, for instance.

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For those of you who have jumped on the iPhone band wagon, you will soon be able to get read book excerpts from publishing giant HarperCollins. The company announced that it will make book excerpts available via their website.

"Reaching consumers on mobile devices and the Internet is increasingly important for publishers," Brian Murray, president of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, said in a statement that noted the publisher has some 10,000 titles already digitized.

While I applaud any and all efforts to get books, whether in print or digital form, out to consumers, I’m not sure how effective a cell phone will be. The biggest problem is reading the small text on such a small screen. Even the iPhone, which boasts a larger screen than most cell phones, would certainly place undue strain on the reader’s eyes. This is the reason why ebooks never caught on on the iPod.

But HarperCollins is moving in the right direction. Maybe I’m wrong and these book excerpts on the iPhone will be a huge success. I hope I am wrong here.

However, if publishers want to reach the masses with digital titles, then they should throw out their dreams of proprietary exclusiveness and collaborate to produce a standard for digital publishing – including a reading device to consume digital products with.

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Cell phones have become an integral part of our lives. They allow us to do everything from text message, surf the internet, check email, play games, take pictures, shoot video, organize our calender, and…oh yeah…make phone calls. But one company is changing the way we shop, with cell phones being the focus point.

According to an article on the Publisher’s Weekly website, a company called ShopText is allowing consumers to buy, among other things, books directly from their phones. When I first read this I was under the false assumption that when you buy a book from your phone, the book is then downloaded to your phone and you must read it from your phone as well – imagine reading War and Peace on that tiny screen!

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Earlier today I sat down and wrote out a nice post about "trimming the fat" off your writing. Well, just as I finished the post and read it over, I clicked on the wrong button with the mouse and…WHAM…the post disappeared forever into some cyber black hole. All that hard work is gone.

Am I looking for sympathy? No. Okay, maybe I am, but I just wanted to share my experience so none of you make the same mistake I did. Always save your work. Save it often. If I had done that, you’d be reading a post about "trimming the fat" off your writing right now instead of this "fluff" about my absent-minded mistake.

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If you read the "old version" of Brad’s Reader (the one hosted by Blogger) you might recall that I bought the semi-new Sony Ebook Reader and gave it a quick review with my first impressions and other thoughts. Well, this is the update to that post.

I’ve had the Sony Reader for several weeks now and I have had a chance to put it through its paces. My verdict: satisfied! The device is portable, lightweight and very user-friendly. I carry it with me to school on a daily basis and find it easy to pull out, power up and get some reading done between classes. Even on the train, which I commute on daily, it’s easy to use.

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